THIS WEEK AT FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH For the week of JUNE 24, 2020

A Note from Your Pastor

Friends,

I recently read the following and was struck by it:

It's no accident that:

You learned about Helen Keller instead of W.E.B. DuBois You learned about the Watts and L.A. Riots, but not Tulsa or Wilmington. You learned that George Washington’s dentures were made from wood, rather than the teeth from slaves. You learned about black ghettos, but not about Black Wall Street. You learned about the New Deal, but not “red lining.” You learned about Tommie Smith’s fist in the air at the 1968 Olympics, but not that he was sent home the

next day and stripped of his medals. You learned about “black crime,” but white criminals were never lumped together and discussed in terms of

their race. You learned about “states rights” as the cause of the Civil War, but not that slavery was mentioned 80 times

in the articles of secession.

Privilege is having history rewritten so that you don’t have to acknowledge uncomfortable facts.

Racism is perpetuated by people who refuse to learn or acknowledge this reality.

You have a choice.

I am aware that we do have a choice about what we learn and what we know. I am aware of this not only in the history of our country, but also in how we read the Bible and what we know about our religious heritage both as Disciples of Christ and also as Christians in general. I am also aware that as someone who identifies with those who have typically written our history, I don’t even always know when to question or how to see things from another angle.

But, I am committing to work on this and asking you to work with me. While this will be a lifelong discipline, I am committing to working to ask new questions and look at scripture from different perspectives rather than just the perspective I have always heard. I am committing to seeking to learn stories that I haven’t previously know.

And here’s what we must remember...this work will sometimes mean we are uncomfortable. It will sometimes ask us to relearn what we have previously been taught. It will sometimes ask us to hear new voices and to listen to stories that aren’t our own and that even make us squirm. And, if we are willing to do it, it will make us better and make our world more as God intends. Thanks for journeying with me,

Jill

Worship with Your Church Family on Zoom

If you would like to see others and share a time of fellowship on Sunday mornings, join us on Zoom.

Sign in between 9:45 and 10am. We will greet one another, worship together, and then share conversation after

worship. While just watching worship on YouTube on our own time can be convenient, the option to worship

together on Zoom gives us a chance to connect. If you are longing for connection, join us.

This Week at First Christian Church June 24, 2020

UPCOMING EVENTS

Online Vacation Bible School

It’s not too late to join as kids explore Jesus’

words, “Follow Me,” through New Testament

Bible stories. Each week during June, supply

kits will be available for pick up on Mondays.

Then on Tuesdays, online videos will be

available with stories, snacks, music and

movement, to view on your own timeline.

Additional opportunities for craft and science

activities will be on Zoom each week as well.

Created with children ages 4-11 in mind, but

available to any who wish to take part.

Register online for access and to reserve your

supply kit today! Contact Kara Seaton, our

Children, Youth & Family Minister with any

questions at icdisciple.kids@gmail.com.

Join Bible Study on Wednesdays

at 12:30 pm using Zoom.

Upcoming scriptures:

June 24 - Matthew 4:18-22

July 1 - Genesis 1:1-2:3

QuaranTEENS (6th-12th graders) will meet each

Thursday evening and is continuing through July

@ 8pm on Zoom w/ Jill & Kara. Check your email

for the link!

Vacation Bible School 2020 is online!

Please note that for security, Zoom links for meetings involving children and youth are distributed to our mailing list via email only. If you aren’t receiving the emails and would like to take part, contact Kara @ icdisciple.kids@gmail.com

FCC Connect on Zoom

Every week we have two opportunities to connect.

These happen Mondays at 10am and Thursdays at 6pm.

All are invited!

It’s Time for Music!

Next FCC Concert: June 30

Come join the musicians of First Christian Church for

our second Virtual All-Church Concert on Tuesday,

June 30 at 6:00pm on Zoom. Vocalists and

instrumentalists of all ages will each perform one

song.

If you are a musician who would like to participate,

please let Laura know (icdisciple.music@gmail.com)

by Friday, June 26.

Book Group

The FCC Book Group will meet on Zoom (link will be

sent) on June 25 at 7pm. The book is How to Forget:

a Daughter’s Memoir by Kate Mulgrew.

FCC Serving at Free Lunch in July

FCC will be serving at Free Lunch on July 14 with a lim-

ited number of volunteers. But there is one way eve-

ryone can help. Sign up here to provide food items.

Items can be dropped off a church on Friday, July 10

between 10am & 1pm. Pick up can also be arranged.

This Week at First Christian Church June 24, 2020

COVID-19 Volunteer Opportunities in

Our Community

If you are healthy and it is safe for you to volunteer, check

out this list that is being kept up by United Way.

The list contains information about various volunteer

opportunities in our community.

Iowa City Pride is celebrating the 50th Annual Iowa City Pride Festival, Iowa's longest-running LGBTQ Pride celebration, with a variety of different virtual events with in person events canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s theme is “Our Pride We Will Maintain”.

The remaining events (details which can be found on Iowa City Pride’s Facebook page) are:

Thursday, June 25 @ 7pm - Your Word is Your Truth, Pride Solidarity.

Saturday, June 27 @ various times - Broadcasting

global Pride events via Facebook and YouTube.

HACAP Food Reservoir Needs Help If you are a person who can safely volunteer in public, HACAP could use your help in late June/early July.

Jobs include:

Loading Food Boxes into Cars

Traffic Control

Registration

Food Box Packers

To sign up click here

Mask Makers Wanted

United Way has assembled kits for volunteers to sew cloth face masks. Mask Making Kits include cut fabric, elastic strips, instructions and a pattern for the assembly of either 10, 20 or 30 masks. Volunteers will supply their own thread, scissors, pins, sewing machine/sewing equipment.

Due to social distancing and safety practices, interested volunteers will contact United Way to schedule an appointment to check out a Mask Making Kit. Volunteers are asked to return the completed masks in the same bag the kit was received in to United Way (1150 5th Street, Suite 290, Coralville). Masks will be distributed to service organizations, hospitals and community members.

To Volunteer: Register here (registration allows hours to be tracked for federal reimbursement funds for the community). After registering, Contact United Way of Johnson & Washington Counties at 319-338-7823 to schedule an appointment to check out a Mask Making Kit.

Love — the best prayer

He prayeth best who

loveth best

All things, both great and

small;

For the dear God who

loveth us,

He made and loveth all.

—Samuel Taylor Coleridge

BIBLE QUIZ

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” Which of the following are mentioned in the list that follows?

A. a time to teach, and a time to learn B. a time to mourn, and a time to dance C. a time to fast, and a time to eat D. a time to work, and a time to rest Answer: See Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

This Week at First Christian Church June 24, 2020

Worship Guide for Sunday Worship

Each week we post an electronic worship service on YouTube (and have an opportunity to gather together on Zoom). The new service is available beginning at 10am on Sunday. The worship guide below will function

as a bulletin for those watching the worship service and can also be used independently by those who cannot or choose not to access YouTube.

In preparation for participating in worship, you are invited to gather some sort of food and drink to take at communion time. Remember, these don’t have to be bread and juice or wine. If you desire, you may also

want to have a candle nearby to light as we light the candle at the beginning of worship.

June 28, 2020

Greeting

Congregational Singing - “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” (Chalice Hymnal #25, vs. 1 & 5)

Prayer Take a moment to center yourself. Pay attention to the ways and places God shows up in your life.

Pray for school districts who are working on plans for a return to school in the fall. Pray for wisdom as people and leaders continue to work to understand the injustices around us and to find a better way forward. Pray for the communities that are again experiencing increases in COVID cases.

Children’s Moment

Scripture - 2 Samuel 7:1-7

Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.” But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders[a] of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”

Sermon - The Risks of a Building Consider the following questions: What do you miss most about coming to the church building? Is it the people? Is it the space? Is it what happens there? What are the gifts that have been available to us during this time when we aren’t able to gather in the building? What are the ways that having a church building can limit our imagination? What ministries might we sometimes neglect when we have a building to focus on? How might this time of not gathering in a central location change who we are as a congregation?

Offering During this time we appreciate all who are continuing their financial commitment to FCC using the USPS or the “Donate” button on the website. We also encourage you to consider other ways you can be an offering beyond our congregation, to the community and our world. Find an act of kindness to share today.

Communion We have been reminded in this time that communion happens wherever we pause in God’s presence...worship happens wherever we say thank you...we are changed whenever we open ourselves up to God. As you take the elements of communion, use this moment to commit your body again to God’s work and to invite God’s loving spirit to flow through you.

Congregational Singing - “A Wilderness Wandering People” (Chalice Praise #127)

Benediction

JUNE 2020 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Online Worship @

Zoom &YouTube

10 AM

22

VBS Supply Pick-up

9 AM—12 noon

FCC Connect @

Zoom 10 AM

23

VBS Videos @

YouTube

Staff Mtg @ Zoom

10 AM

VBS Craft @ Zoom

6:30 PM

24

Bible Study @ Zoom

12:30 PM

VBS Science @ Zoom

6:30 PM

25

FCC Connect @

Zoom 6 PM

VBS Story Q & A @

Zoom 6:30 PM

Book Club @ Zoom

7 PM

Quaran-TEENS (6th-

12th) @ Zoom 8 PM

26

27

28

Online Worship @

Zoom &YouTube

10 AM

29

VBS Supply Pick-up

9 AM—12 noon

FCC Connect @

Zoom 10 AM

MPT (Summer 2020)

@ Zoom 6 PM

30

VBS Videos @

YouTube

Online Concert @

Zoom 6 PM

VBS Craft @ Zoom

6:30 PM

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

Bible Study @ Zoom

12:30 PM

VBS Science @ Zoom

6:30 PM

2

FCC Connect @

Zoom 6 PM

VBS Story Q & A @

Zoom 6:30 PM

Quaran-TEENS (6th-

12th) @ Zoom 8 PM

3 4

5

Online Worship @

Zoom &YouTube

10 AM

6 FCC Connect @

Zoom 10 AM

7 8 Bible Study @ Zoom

12:30 PM

Executive Comm @

Zoom 5:30 PM

9 FCC Connect @

Zoom 6 PM

Quaran-TEENS (6th-

12th) @ Zoom 8 PM

10 Food Drop-off

for Free Lunch

10 AM—1 PM @

church

11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH

(DISCIPLES OF CHRIST)

900 LINCOLNSHIRE PLACE

CORALVILLE, IA 52241-3615

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has

welcomed you, for the glory of God. Romans 15:7

At First Christian Church of Iowa City/Coralville, we aspire

to share God’s expansive and unconditional love with all,

with respect and positive regard for our human

differences. Whatever your lived experience, skin color,

native tongue or dialect, ethnicity or nationality, gender

identity, sexual orientation, relationship or family status,

age, size, physical or mental health, economic situation,

addiction, ability or disability, education level, profession,

faith history, and politics … there is room for you at the

table. It is God’s welcome and is without limitations.

By God’s grace and following Jesus’ example, we invite

you to join us in community and communion. We embrace

you as a fellow child of God, equally and deeply loved and

with full access to the kin-dom that we strive to inhabit.

If you are among us, you are one of us.

Our regular schedule will

resume when it is safe to do so

For now we are worshipping virtually.

Each week a new worship service is

posted to our YouTube Channel at

10am on Sunday.

You are also welcome to join others

on Zoom on Sunday mornings at

9:45am. There we will share

fellowship and conversation as well as

watch the worship service.

All other meetings are also virtual.

For links or assistance, contact Pastor Jill.